Page 202 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - London

200  L ONDON AREA B Y AREA

Frederick the Great. His presence 4 Roper’s Garden
at this address made Chelsea Cheyne Walk SW3. Map 19 A4.
more fashionable and the 1 Sloane Square, South Kensington.
house became a mecca for
some great literary figures. This is a small park outside
The novelists Charles Dickens Chelsea Old Church. It is
and William Thackeray, poet named after Margaret Roper,
Alfred Lord Tennyson and Thomas More’s daughter,
naturalist Charles Darwin were and her husband William,
all regular visitors here. The who wrote More’s biography.
house has been restored and The sculptor Jacob Epstein
looks as it would have done worked at a studio on the site
during Carlyle’s lifetime. between 1909 and 1914, and
there is a stone carving by
him commemorating the
fact. The park also contains a
The Pheasantry, King’s Road figure of a nude woman by
Gilbert Carter.
1 King’s Road
SW3 and SW10. Map 19 B3. 5 Cheyne Walk
1 Sloane Square. See Shops and
Markets pp316–37. SW3. Map 19 B4. 1 Sloane Square,
South Kensington.
This is Chelsea’s central artery,
with a wealth of upmarket Until Chelsea Embankment was
high street shops and smaller constructed in 1874, Cheyne
boutiques. The miniskirt Walk was a pleasant riverside
revolution of the 1960s – the promenade. Now it overlooks
birth of so-called “Swinging Chelsea Old Church in 1860 a busy road that has destroyed
London” – began here and so much of its charm. Many of the
have many subsequent style 3 Chelsea Old 18th-century houses remain,
trends, perhaps the most Church though, bristling with blue
famous of them being punk. plaques celebrating some of
Look out for the Pheasantry 64 Cheyne Walk SW3. Map 19 A4. the famous people who have
at No. 152, with its columns Tel 020 7795 1019. 1 Sloane Square, lived in them. Most were
and statuary. It was built in 1881 South Kensington. Open 2–4pm Tue– writers and artists, including
Thu. 7 5 8am Thu, 8am, 10am,
as the shopfront of a furniture- 11am, 12:15pm, 6pm Sun. J M W Turner, who lived
maker’s premises but now ∑ chelseaoldchurch.org.uk incognito at No. 119; George
conceals a modern restaurant. Eliot, who died at No. 4; and a
Once also a vibrant area for Rebuilt after World War II, this clutch of writers (Henry James,
antiques, most of the Kings square-towered building does T S Eliot and Ian Fleming) in
Road’s merchants have packed not look old from the outside. Carlyle Mansions.
up shop. Nearby Kensington However, early prints confirm
Church Street is where to go that it is a careful replica of the
to find high-quality art and medieval church that was
antiques today. largely destroyed by World
War II bombs.
The glory of this church is its
2 Carlyle’s House Tudor monuments. One to Sir
Thomas More, who built a
24 Cheyne Row SW3. Map 19 B4.
Tel 020 7352 7087. 1 Sloane Square, chapel here in 1528, contains an
South Kensington. Open Mar–Oct: inscription he wrote (in Latin),
11am–4:30pm Wed–Sun. & ^ asking to be buried next to his
∑ nationaltrust.org.uk/ wife. Among other monuments
carlyleshouse is a chapel to Sir Thomas
Lawrence, an Elizabethan
The historian and founder of merchant, and a 17th-century
the London Library (see St memorial to Lady Jane Cheyne,
James’s Square p95), Thomas after whose husband Cheyne
Carlyle moved into this modest Walk was named. Outside the
18th-century house in 1834, church is a statue in memory of
and wrote many of his best- Sir Thomas More, “statesman,
known books here, notably scholar, saint”, gazing piously
The French Revolution and across the river. Statue of Thomas More on Cheyne Walk

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